Rain (webcomic)

Rain is a webcomic first published in November 2010 by Jocelyn Samara DiDomenick. It follows a teenage trans girl named Rain Flaherty as she attends a private Catholic high school and interacts with the community around her.[2]

Rain
Cover of volume five, showing characters Fara Bryer (left), Rain Flaherty (centre), and Emily Caston (right).
Author(s)Jocelyn Samara DiDomenick
Websitehttp://rain.thecomicseries.com/archive
Launch datethe 27th November 2010[1]
Genre(s)Dramedy, slice-of-life

Plot

Rain Flaherty, a trans girl, moves away from her hometown and enrols at St. Hallvard High School with the assistance of her aunt, Fara Bryer, who is a teacher at the school. Rain is finally ready to present solely femme in public; however, she encounters childhood friend Gavin Kurz, who knew her when she was still presenting masculine.

Books

In 2013, volume one of Rain was published, bearing ISBN 978-0578119847. Since then, several more volumes have been self-published by DiDomenick through Lulu.

Reception

In TRANSforming Spaces: Transgender Webcomics as a Model for Transgender Empowerment and Representation within Library and Archive Spaces, Nami K. R. Hatfield (2015) argues that Rain derives its effectiveness from its "informed and sympathetic portrayal of transgender experiences", and notes that DiDomenick uses "the participatory methods of organized fandom" in order to interact with Rain's readers and fanbase.[2] Participatory culture (a new media theory concept developed by scholar Henry Jenkins) in the Internet age, Hatfield contends, is precisely what makes Rain a reality - it enables smaller-scale works centred around non-mainstream experiences such as the trans experience to be shared easily.[2]

The Boston Public Library ranks Rain at number 22 on a list of 31 comics to binge whilst stuck at home.[3] Michele Kirichanskaya of ComicsVerse ranks it at number 2 on their list of 10 must-read LGBTQIA+ webcomics, praising its chibi art style whilst noting its initial lack of racial diversity.[4]

Characters

Rain and her family
  • Rain Flaherty - A teenage trans girl in her senior year of upper secondary school, Rain moves from her hometown and enrols at St. Hallvard's in Centerville to be able to present femme and avoid anyone she knows. Rain is the youngest of three siblings. She is a fan of Black Wings: Kaminari, an in-universe manga series.
  • Fara Bryer - Rain's aunt, and a gym teacher at St. Hallvard's High School. Fara is bisexual, and dated Vincent Valverde in the past when he was still presenting as a woman.
  • Kellen Flaherty - Rain's older sister, Kellen does not accept Rain being trans, and deadnames her. Kellen forcibly cuts Rain's hair whilst she's asleep, causing the latter to disown her. Has a twin, Aiken.
  • Aiken Flaherty - Rain's older brother, Aiken was initially unaccepting of her but has since come around. He once dated Jessica Li, a trans woman, and reacted badly when she told him of that; since Rain's coming out, however, he's been working to reconcile with her. Aiken is twins with Kellen.

St. Hallvard's High School
  • Gavin Kurz - Rain's childhood friend.
  • Maria Strongwell - Rudy's sister. She is a closeted lesbian.
  • Rudy Strongwell - Maria's brother. He is openly gay, causing conflict with his disapproving parents. Rudy occasionally cross-dresses as Ruby.
  • Emily Caston - Rain's classmate, Emily is initially presented as a popular, uncaring girl; beneath this cool exterior, though, is an abusive mother and an ex-boyfriend that gets her pregnant. Emily is actually a very sweet and caring girl, and supports Rain when she becomes estranged from her siblings. She eventually comes out as pansexual, and begins dating Rain.
  • Arthur Feltman - A Catholic priest and the Dean of Students at St. Hallvard's. He is supportive of Rain; his younger brother Will is a trans man who lives on the other side of the country. Arthur views helping Rain partly as a way to reconcile with his brother.
  • Quenton Morrison - A Catholic priest and the Headmaster at St. Hallvard's. He is a lawful evil character, committed to enforcing the school's moral code, and does not react well to queer people. Quenton is eventually fired and replaced with Arthur Feltman in the interim.

Other characters
  • Vincent Valverde - A trans man and Fara Bryer's former significant other.
  • Jessica Li - A trans woman and Aiken Flaherty's former girlfriend, Jessica met Aiken through an on-line dating service. When she came out as trans to Aiken, he broke up with her. Jessica makes up with Aiken and agrees to try out being friends again when she sees him making an effort not to deadname or misgender Rain or her in a conversation with Kellen.

References
  1. "Rain - Archive". rain.thecomicseries.com.
  2. Hatfield, Nami Kitsune Raven (2015). "TRANSforming Spaces: Transgender Webcomics as a Model for Transgender Empowerment and Representation within Library and Archive Spaces" (PDF). Queer Cats Journal of LGBTQ Studies. 1: 57–73 – via California Digital Library, UCLA.
  3. "Webcomics to the Rescue!: 31 Comics to Binge While Stuck at Home". www.bpl.org. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  4. "10 Must-Read LGBTQIA+ Webcomics". ComicsVerse. 2017-04-10. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
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